My January books

2026 began the same way as 2025 ended - with more books!
This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to the cats (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (the cats also refuse to give ratings 😉). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.
You may notice that I don't number the list anymore. There's a reason for that which I will go into in a future post.


"Buster Keaton Remembered" by Eleanor Keaton and Jeffrey Vance, first published in 2001

Written by Keaton's wife of 26 years, Eleanor, and film historian Jeffrey Vance, the book chronicles Buster Keaton's life and career film by film, supported by a lot of pictures.

This is of course part of my personal silent film project.

"Grey Mask" by Patricia Wentworth, first published in 1928
(Miss Silver 1)

When Charles Moray returns to London four years after his fiancée has broken off their engagement not long before the wedding, he gets drawn into a plot concerning a drowned millionaire, his heiress - and his ex-fiancée.

More ear ringing for Liz on whose blog I came across Wentworth whose Miss Silver series fit right in with my vintage crime reading.

"Murder at the Bookstore" by Sue Minix, first published in 2023
(The Bookstore Mystery series 1)

Crime writer Jen Dawson is working on her second book when her friend Aletha from the bookstore is getting killed.
Jen turns amateur sleuth.

I found the newest available volume of the series on OverDrive, but started with the first one.
Does my plot description sound annoyed? The reason is I was. I didn't want to DNF another one right away and pushed through, but then promptly deleted the following books from my wishlist.

"The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Talking Skull" by Robert Arthur (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1969 😸
(The Three Investigators 11)

At an auction for abandoned luggage, Jupiter buys the old trunk of a magician. There are more people interested in that trunk, though. What is the mystery behind that and behind "Socrates", the talking skull, they found inside it?

I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it. This book is the eleventh in the series.

"How to Read a Book" by Monica Wood, first published in 2024

Violet is in prison for driving drunk and causing a fatal car crash.
Harriet is a widowed and retired teacher volunteering at the prison book club.
Frank is a retired machinist whose wife was killed in the crash.
After Violet gets out of prison and the three have an encounter at a bookstore, their lives start to become intertwined.

Another random OverDrive find. It started alright, but I thought the last third went a little overboard.

"The Picture House Murders" by Fiona Veitch Smith, first published in 2023
(A Miss Clara Vale Mystery 1)

The year is 1929. Oxford trained scientist turned librarian Clara Vale is notified that her uncle Bob has died and left everything to her, his money, his house with laboratory - and his dectective agency!
Trying to find out what to do with her inheritance, Clara takes up one of Bob's open cases, a fire in a local picture house.

I found this one as a new entry on OverDrive, it's a pity that it's the only one of the series there so far as I really enjoyed it.

"Tod im Äther" = "The Collected Short Fiction of Ngaio Marsh" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1989

This is a collection of short stories by Marsh some of which feature Roderick Alleyn. There's also a telescript for an episode of "Crown Court" (which you can find here if you want to see Joan Hickson as the defendant). It closes with two introductions to the creation of Alleyn and his wife Troy.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.
I would say short stories were not Marsh's strong suit, but there aren't many of them, anyway.

"Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth - A Life Beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Jane Lancaster, first published in 2004

Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878 - 1972) was a US-American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator.
She received a Ph.D. as one of the first female engineers and worked in her field through almost all of her life, until his death in 1924 closely together with her husband Frank Bunker Gilbreth.
You may have heard about her if you read "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Belles on Their Toes", written by two of her thirteen children, Frank Jr. and Ernestine. They are humorous descriptions of life in the large family of two engineers whose work in scientific management also found application in the organization of their home.

A while ago, YouTube recommended the two movies made after the books to me. I have read the books more than once, especially as a kid, I also knew the movies, but the recommendation made me look for more actual information about Lillian Gilbreth and I happened to find this exhaustive biography - and by exhaustive I mean almost 400 pages packed full of information about an amazing woman. Sometimes a bit too much information as I can't be expected to remember every organization Gilbreth was a member of or all those many, many lectures she held, but hey, it obviously was interesting enough to keep me going until the end although the second part in particular wasn't always an easy read.

"Secret Lives" by E. F. Benson, first published in 1932 😸

A new addition to the residents of Durham Square leads to a battle for social supremacy between Mrs Mantrip whose father had turned the Square into a respectable neighborhood and Miss Leg, the newcomer. Little do they know that they both have a secret that connects them.

I looked up a book which mentioned a book which led to a recommendation of Benson's "Mapp and Lucia" novels (I had watched the series before) which guided me to this book. The ways of books are strange sometimes.
A most amusing book!

"Tied Up in Tinsel" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1972
(Roderick Alleyn 27)

While Alleyn is in Australia, his wife Troy has been invited for Christmas by Hilary Bill-Tasman to paint his portrait.
The eccentric Hilary is restoring his ancestral home and all of his staff have served sentences for murder.
Other guests are his uncle and aunt, his mentor, and his fiancée.
When his uncle's manservant disappears after the Christmas celebrations, it's lucky that Alleyn has just returned from Australia.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.

"The Vampyre : a tale" by John William Polidori, first published in 1819 😸

Rich, young, orphaned Aubrey comes to London where he meets Lord Ruthven by whom he's both fascinated and repelled. They travel to the European continent together where Aubrey learns about vampyres, a folk tale he dismisses until a gruesome incident resulting in a young girl's death.
After Lord Ruthven gets shot by robbers, his body disappears mysteriously.
When returning to London, however, Aubrey meets Lord Ruthven again - and he shows interest in Aubrey's sister.

Polidori's "The Vampyre" is often regarded as the first story featuring a "modern" vampire.
It was inspired by a novel fragment of Lord Byron (whose physician he was and to whom it was attributed at first before Byron and Polidori set it right) and is a result of the famous ghost story telling contest which also led to Mary Shelley's writing of "Frankenstein".
As a short story, this is a quick read if you are interested in the beginnings of the genre. Definitely quicker than "Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood" (published in 1845 - 1847 as penny dreadfuls) which introduced many of the tropes like the fang-like teeth or the hypnotic powers. Varney has almost 900 pages! Dracula only turned up in 1897, by the way.
The copy I read, which was acquired in 1819 according to a note on the front page, had a few notes in the text. I couldn't read all of them completely, but two of them said "Perfectly horrid!!" which I found really interesting.

"Krabat" by Otfried Preußer, first published in 1971

Set in the times of the Great Northern War (1700 - 1721), the book tells the story of Krabat, a young orphan, who starts as an apprentice at a mysterious mill in Lusatia.

A re-read for a blog post. I can't even say how often I have read this book since my childhood. Absolutely a favorite.

"Maisie Dobbs" by Jacqueline Winspear, first published in 2003
(Maisie Dobbs 1)

The year is 1929 (yes, again, but Maisie Dobbs and Clara Vale are quite different). Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, has to find out if a woman is cheating on her husband, but discovers a greater secret that takes her mind back to her own past.

Another random OverDrive find. I'm torn. It was a smooth read, but a few things were a little too smooth and perfect, like Maisie's backstory.
My library only has two other of the series of 18 books, #16 and #18, and I don't think it makes much sense to read those without knowing Maisie's development between 1929 and 1945.

"Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, first published (in serialized form) in 1871 😸

Young Laura leads a solitary life with her father in an Austrian castle.
When a carriage accident happens near the castle, they get an unexpected guest, the beautiful and enchanting Carmilla. A strange friendship evolves, but then Laura gets haunted by dreams and gets weaker every day.

Le Fanu's Carmilla is one of literature's earliest female vampires. The novella is 26 years older than Stoker's "Dracula" and has more layers than just being a vampire story (I'll just say women).
I had read it ages ago and didn't remember anything, so it was time for a re-read. Definitely a recommendation from me.
Gundel didn't like Polidori's Lord Ruthven much, but after hearing that Carmilla could turn into a black panther-like cat, she said maybe she'd make a good vampire herself after all.

"Tension" by E. M. Delafield, first published in 1920

When Lady Rossiter, the wife of private college director Sir Julian, learns that the new Lady Superintendent, Pauline Marchrose, is the woman who had broken off the engagement with her cousin, she does everything to have her removed.
A budding romance between Marchrose and Sir Julian's agent Mark Easter, whose wife is in an institution, is the perfect basis for a campaign against her, and tension rises.

Liz from Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home has introduced me to the "British Library Women Writers" series (I found she has already reviewed this book here). I had a look which of the novels I could find rather easily, this was one of them.


DNF:

"A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping" by Sangu Mandanna, first published in 2025

A young, talented, and powerful witch resurrects her great-aunt from the dead and loses almost all of her power, so she runs her aunt's enchanted inn after being banished from the guild.
Then she finds out about a spell that may be able to restore her power.

I'm starting to think that most "cozy literature" isn't really for me. I read about 15% of the book and then found I didn't feel much like wanting to pick it up again. I did anyway, but was still bored after a few more pages. As there was a waitlist of four or five people, I thought the nice thing to do would be to give up there and then.